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Taylor Swift
| Origin = Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, U.S. | Height = 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | Instrument = Guitar, piano, vocals | Genre = Country | Occupation = Singer-songwriter | Years_active = 2006–Present | Label = Big Machine Records | Associated_acts = Miranda Lambert, Kellie Pickler, Danielle Peck | URL = Taylor Swift Official Site }} Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is a Platinum-selling, American country music singer-songwriter. In 2006, she had her first hit at 16, "Tim McGraw", about a summer love. Since then, she has risen to fame, with an especially large Internet following. She has a soft and clean voice that appeals to most country music fans. She won CMT's "Breakthrough Video of the Year" award in 2007 for her hit "Tim McGraw", and was also nominated by the Academy of Country Music for "Top New Female Vocalist". Biography Early years Taylor Swift was born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Swift's influences include her grandmother, who was an opera singer,http://www.gactv.com/gac/ar_artists_a-z/article/0,,GAC_26071_4736016,00.html and LeAnn Rimeshttp://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_feature/article/0,,GAC_26499_4743992,00.html. She began performing in Wyommissing, Pennsylvania. At the age of ten, Swift began to perform around her hometown, singing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs. Her first exposure to the music business consisted of recording demo tapes at a studio. At age 11, Taylor made her first trip to Nashville in hopes of attaining a record deal by handing out a demo tape she had made of her singing along to karaoke songs. She handed this tape to receptionists at every label on Music Row.http://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_feature/article/0,,GAC_26499_4743992,00.html Taylor returned to Pennsylvania without a record deal but remained confident in her ability, writing her first song, "Lucky You". Her big break came at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, when her rendition of the national anthem moved the crowd. http://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_feature/article/0,,GAC_26499_4743992,00.html Within a few months she was featured as a rising star in an Abercrombie & Fitch campaign. In Nashville she wrote songs with local songwriters. The family decided to move to Hendersonville, Tennessee, an outlying Nashville suburb. When she performed at Nashville's premier songwriters' cafe, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta. Scott signed her to his new label, Big Machine Records.http://www.gactv.com/gac/ar_artists_a-z/article/0,,GAC_26071_4736016,00.html 2006-present: Rise to Fame Swift's first single, "Tim McGraw", was released to radio in Summer of 2006. The video debuted in July 2006 on Great American Country. On October 24, 2006, her self-titled CD was released. The CD, on which Swift wrote or co-wrote all of the songs, peaked at #19 on the sales charts and sold more than 61,000 during its first week. The song "Tim McGraw" peaked at #6 on the chart week of January 27, 2007. The video set a record by appearing for 30 consecutive weeks on GAC's fan-voted weekly Top 20 music countdown show,http://beasley.wsu.edu/calendar/event.aspx?event=147 and the video reached #1 on CMT's video charts. Since her success, she has appeared on Good Morning America and at the 2006 Academy of Country Music Awards. She also won "Breakthrough Video of the Year" on the 2007 CMT Music Awards with "Tim McGraw". Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music video series airing since the summer of 2006 on the country music channel Great American Country. Swift sang the national anthem and performed at various events since then. One of her biggest mainstream performances was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on February 13, 2007, where she performed her single, "Tim McGraw." Swift also appeared on Ellen, singing "Our Song." On May 15, 2007, Swift performed her Gold single, "Tim McGraw," at the Academy of Country Music Awards. She sang the song to Tim McGraw in the audience, and introduced herself for the first time to him. Taylor has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She is currently touring with Brad Paisley and has opened in the past for George Strait and Rascal Flatts as well.http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1561014/20070601/swift__taylor.jhtml More recently, she was named a presenter and performer at the prestigious American Women in Radio and Television event in New York in June 2007. Her second album is about to be recorded and planned for a 2008 release, the same year she is scheduled to graduate high school through her home-school program.http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/06/14/freetime/doc46705afca358e744644753.txt On August 30, Taylor was named one of 5 nominees for the 2007 CMA Horizon Award. The CMA Awards will be televised on November 7. Discography Albums Singles *A Current single. Awards *CMT Music Awards **2007, Breakthrough Video of the Year: Tim McGraw (Won) *Academy of Country Music Awards ** 2007, Top New Female Vocalist: Nominated (lost to Miranda Lambert) References External links *Taylor Swift Official Website *Taylor Swift's Official Myspace Category:1989 births Category:American female singers Category:American country singers Category:Living people Category:American child singers Category:People from Berks County, Pennsylvania Category:Pennsylvania musicians Category:American country singer-songwriters